The tenderizing of meat and the destruction of microorganisms on and in meat can be accompanied by generating a shock wave in a non-compressible fluid and allowing the shock wave to pass through meat, which is preferably sealed in a plastic bag for cleanliness and ease of handling.
The tenderizing effect can be roughly doubled by placing the meat against a surface in the water, such as heavy steel plate, which reflects the wave back through the meat. Thus, the shock wave front passes through the meat, reflects from the surface supporting the meat, and passes a second time through the meat, crossing a portion of the still incoming wave. The maximum effect occurs in the region of the supported meat where the reflected wave crosses the incoming wave.
For uniform shock intensity, the inside of a heavy steel hemispherical tank can be lined with meat packages, the tank filled with water, and an explosive charge be placed at the center point and detonated. The shock wave will travel outward through the water, tenderizing all the meat relatively evenly.
Tenderizing meat in this manner has many advantages, including instant tenderization, low cost, and saving of energy, as well as killing of bacteria. There are no unsavory or known unhealthy results to the meat.
Explosive meat tenderizing is discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,328,403 and 5,273,766, both of which are entirely incorporated herein by reference. The disclosed process is known commercially as the Hydrodyne Process. In the exemplary embodiments disclosed by these patents, the meat is supported adjacent the shock reflective surface, and the shock wave is produced by the detonation of a high explosive. It was found that optimum results were accomplished in both tenderizing and destruction of microorganisms when the peak pressure in the shock front occurred at times less than ten microseconds from the time of detonation.
The use of chemical explosives, such as was disclosed by the incorporated patents, has certain drawbacks. One is safety. Any explosive must be handled and used carefully to avoid accidents, and this increases costs. Also, there is always the possibility of injury, even if such possibility is remote.
A second drawback is cycling time. While a chemical explosion is of course quite brief, the time between explosions is limited by the need to replace the exploded charge with another charge after re-packing the holding tank with packaged meat and water, and the time for personnel to move out of harm's way after the charge is set. In theory packed holding tanks could be moved, one after another, into a single firing position where a series of charges would be exploded, but it is difficult to build a mechanism which can automatically position and detonate a series of explosive charges in a carefully defined position.
The use of chemical explosives also imposes certain size requirements, and thus makes the possibility of miniaturization and home use impractical.